Holistic Wellness

Holistic wellness in Mauritius is no longer just the domain of luxury 5-star hotel spas, there are spa therapists practising their trade in a number of wellness centres and spas across the island. Similarly the products used in holistic treatments have also expanded and diversified to include a range of creams, lotions, body scrubs and wraps that are made from bio-quality, organic plants and flowers endemic to the island. This has given rise to a host of new therapies that includes calming noni leaves, skin-smoothing papaya and cooling cucumber wraps. Essential oils and flower elixirs including NaturEssences made from native flowers are used in drops or sprays to enhance the quality of treatments. There are also a host of other holistic treatments available on the island including Ayurveda, Pranic Healing, Reiki, Acupuncture, and Shiatsu.

Having been used for virtually thousands of years by our ancestors, essential oils are deeply embedded in cultural life around the world. They are veritable beauty and health care remedies, added to creams, ointments and salves, but also to perfumes, deodorants and insect repellents. Essential oils do not only smell good, but actually influence our physical as well as emotional wellbeing. They can have antidepressant, antibacterial, stimulating, detoxifying, uplifting and relaxing properties, or simply be calming, soothing, purifying or nourishing for the skin.

Spa is a relatively new but highly appreciated word in the vocabulary of Mauritius. Mauritians had traditionally gone to see an Ayurveda therapist, or a Chinese herbalist to soothe their aching bones, and there was always someone in the family who knew how to tackle sore and stiff muscles! But then, a generation of spa employees that were carefully taught the ultimate secrets of their trade while working in the many 5-star hotels around the island, eventually retired and were eager to start their own businesses. Ultimately their businesses thrived, because, the island-wide progress had created a new illness, which had never before been an issue: stress. Stress symptoms could be pleasantly relieved in the spa, so business men and women were the first customers of the new generation of spa therapists.

Some years ago, the spas in Mauritius’ newly built 5-star hotels resembled carefully sculpted sanctuaries, created to satisfy the needs of even the most discerning customer. International labels were widely propagated and each spa was eager to show off the talents of their trained therapists; experts in the arts of applying those outlandish products, brimming with first-hand knowledge from across Europe, and of products, which came in by air-cargo.

Over the past few years, there has been a great change in the health and wellness sector in Mauritius. In the old days, when someone had a health problem, they went to the dispensary or the nearest hospital, where wounds were bandaged, bones set and pills distributed liberally. With the development from an agricultural towards an increasingly industrial society, hard labour was not as common as before. People now worked in standing and sitting positions and hence burned much fewer calories; but the diet was never really adapted to the new lifestyle. Furthermore an entirely new factor came into play: modern working women did not have the time to prepare meals from scratch.

Enjoying a privileged but isolated location, far away from smog and pollution, kissed by the tropical sun and caressed by the trade winds, Mauritian flowers have got an incredible healing potential! This Flower Power can be attributed to the fact that in this rare climate some very special plants developed throughout the millennia and at one point, most plants that grew on Mauritius were endemic and unique. Alas, they were of little value to the conquerors and soon vastly replaced by edible and cultivated species from all over the world. Today, the endemic flowers of the Mascarene islands are rare gems which need to be protected.